Kemp caught neglecting own son, ability as a teacher bought into question

Janelle Kemp, a teacher who's lack of supervision over a junior student led to them being sexually assaulted has today been caught by a parent neglecting her own son. The parent has asked how someone who is unable to supervise her own child can be trusted to supervise special needs children.

At 11:00AM today, Janelle Kemp was observed at a coffee shop in Keppel St Bathurst while her disabled son was left in her van (AUB61K) parked over 100 metres away. According to the parent, Mrs Kemp was casually drinking coffee in the shop while her son was left in the vehicle unsupervised.

Janelle Kemp has come under scrutiny on this blog for receiving special transport assistance for her son when she works at the school, received a $6,200 walker for her son from corrupt school charity Carenne Support, claiming parents leaked information to this blog, being responsible for the attack of a whistleblower and being nominated for a $10,000 grant before other parents and students. Mrs Kemp has also been identified as being responsible for the sexual assault of a junior student as she failed to properly supervise them.

Mrs Kemp's actions today demonstrates that she neglects her own child, leaving little faith in her ability to properly supervise students. "How the hell can this woman supervise our children when she leaves her own son in a car unattended?" asked one Carenne parent.

Carenne Gate reminds its readers that leaving children unattended in a car is a crime and may result in a fine up to $22,000.

Neil Moon lies about presentation day

The principal of the disgraced Carenne Special School where child abuse and corruption is allowed to continue unhindered has once again been caught lying to the local media. Neil Moon was caught out lying to the Western Advocate last Thursday following the official opening of a building which has been used by the school for over a year.

Emails from parents flooded in after Neil Moon's interview on local radio station 2BS yesterday, where Mr Moon talked up the school and the presentation day from last Friday.

In his interview, Mr Moon claimed that over 350 people attended the presentation day and that there wasn't an empty seat in the centre. According to a number of parents, this is incorrect. "Neil Moon is nothing more than a bullshit spinner, you can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He constantly lies. How can a liar be trusted to look after 80-odd special needs children?," asked one parent.

Mr Moon also claimed that the day was a success despite major flaws in the event and the day being described by attendees as the worst ever presentation day. "I think it really is a reflection on Neil Moon, to run such a pathetic presentation day really shows how pathetic he is as a principal", said another parent.

During Mr Moon's interview, he also said he was grateful for having volunteers for the school's reading program and for its RDA program in an obvious display that he is unable to separate the organisation Michael Auld corruptly misappropriated funds from the school for.

Mr Moon's interview show he is a man who will lie to make himself look better, even though everybody can see straight through it.

Carenne Support now earning $150,000 a year, bank balance shrunk

In July, Carenne Gate asked why the Department of Education and Training was representing a contractor with $95,000 in the bank. Carenne Gate can now report that in just a year, Carenne Support's bank balance shrunk by around $23,000.

According to Carenne Support's financial documents for the year to 30 June 2010, Carenne Support's receipts rose by around $15,000 to $150,866. Despite this amount incoming, Carenne Support's expenses also rose by $35,000.

Carenne Support also spent far less on "plant and equipment" than in 2009.

Its bank balance for the financial year shrunk by $23,000 to $74,766, the lowest it has been for the past three financial years.

Assistant principal from hell won't be returning to Carenne: Moon

At the presentation day today it was announced that Lee Churches, the assistant principal who has been proven to post on this blog as carennetruth will not be returning to the school. Her achievements at the school were overstated according to staff.

The assistant principal, known to be the leader of the Carenne KLAN could not make a speech as she was overcome with emotion.

A number of parents claimed that it would be good for the school, with allegations that Churches harassed whistle blowers, assaulted students and harassed parents on this blog.

Carenne presentation day a farce

According to parents and staff, Carenne Special School's presentation day held at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre was a complete farce, with key Carenne supporters missing from the event. Despite ordinarily attending presentation day, Peter Harvey and Carole McDiarmid were absent from the event. Key Carenne Support personnel were also missing from the event.

As expected, the principal of the school publicly named and shamed for lying to the media, Neil Moon spun how good the school was and how it was one of the few special schools being heavily invested in by the government. One parent said "It was supposed to be a celebration of the students not some spin session, with Neil Moon raving on like a lunatic about how great the staff and school are."

According to the Carenne Saviours, the event was poor compared to previous years. "Neil Moon really showed how utterly incompetent he is with it being the worst presentation day I have been to. It was a absolute joke," said Barracus.

"What made me laugh was half the organisations giving awards didn't even turn up to present them, how do we even know it was them that gave them out? Nobody showed, people don't want to be associated with the school," said nedkelly.

Another Carenne Saviour said "You could tell that it was organised by Louise Smith and Simone Russell, it was a joke, it was the worst presentation day ever."

One parent told Carenne Gate "I was sickened by the day today, it was completely degrading of the students, it was terrible. I couldn't believe the behaviour of some of the staff, they showed just how incompetent the school was."

Neil Moon a man of spin says staff

A number of Carenne Special School staff have complained about what they call spin in today's Western Advocate about the official opening of the new block at the school. As previously reported, the grand opening was a flop with former Carenne supporter and state education minister Verity Firth snubbing the event.

In his interview with the Western Advocate, Mr Moon said "The upgrades have included the introduction of interactive white boards into each classroom and improved access to technology." Staff claim that this is false as every classroom had interactive whiteboards under Terry Mahony's principalship in 2006. "For Neil Moon to take credit for the vision of Terry Mahony is a joke," said Barracus.

"Neil Moon will never be the principal that Terry Mahony was. Terry Mahony was a leader, Neil Moon is just a 'yes man'", said another Saviour.

According to staff, interactive whiteboards from the demountables were removed and installed in the new building by Michael Auld and Doug Rowe. Staff reported to Julie Brown last year that the projectors were not mounted properly and were affected by skylights in the roof. Since then, a short-throw system has been installed in one classroom in the new building.

"Clearly Neil Moon is a liar, but that's what we have come to expect from him," said one Saviour.

The statement about the buildings replacing most of the demountables was also completely untrue according to Carenne staff. "The demountables are still there at the back of the school, used for classes and anyone who remembers when Terry Neal was principal will remember him claiming that it was exciting for the new building to be opened but the demountables were still a problem on the news."

Mr Moon's published spin just one day from the school presentation day show that he is a man of spin who will lie to make himself look better.

Verity Firth snubs Carenne

Those hoping to meet the education minister at Carenne Special School today were bitterly disappointed as it was discovered that claims made by Neil Moon and Michael Auld that Verity Firth would be a surprise guest at the opening were false.

The education minister, who was discovered to of misled parliament in May last year appears to of snubbed Carenne, most likely not wishing to be associated with the school prior to the election next March.

The Carenne Special School has been the subject of a number of serious allegations including the sexual assault of a student by a teacher, sexual assaults among students, corruption and bullying.

Student suspended for two days over rape

According to documents provided to Carenne Gate another incident of sexual assault between an older and younger student has occurred at Carenne. Evidenced by emails between Neil Moon and Peter Harvey, the incident is described as happening around three weeks ago when a senior student sexually assaulted a younger student at the school. According to the emails, the incident is being investigated by the Police and DOCS.

A similar incident occurred at the school in 2005 which was investigated by Police. A number of whistleblowers at the school have alleged that there are a number of students sexually assaulting other students but these have been covered-up due to who the perpetrators parents were.

This incident occurred due to the students' teachers not properly supervising them. While Neil Moon has vigourously defended Michael Auld, he has not done the same for Sandra Lynch, laying the blame squarely upon her.

According to the Carenne Saviours, the older student was suspended for just two days over the incident and since his return has been allowed to wander about the school grounds unsupervised.

Despite the school having a history of student sexual assaults and the recent finding by a court that a teacher was having sex with a student, Peter Harvey and Neil Moon still refuse to act.

Verity Firth to open new building at Carenne on Wednesday

The building which was opened to students at Carenne last year to criticism by a number of staff for being poorly planned, having skylights which interfered with data projectors and light in the room and leaks will be officially opened by Verity Firth on Wednesday.

It had been a closely guarded secret that Verity Firth would open the building, with most people being told that the building would be opened by Gerard Martin.

The Carenne Saviours contacted Carenne Gate this afternoon to report that Verity Firth would open the building at the maligned school.

Carenne teachers accessed porn

Amid controversy about NSW MPs accessing pornography and possibly child pornography from parliamentary computers, a number of Carenne Special School whistleblowers have made allegations that pornography has been accessed by staff at the school.

One Carenne Saviour told Carenne Gate that prior to Carenne's internet being filtered, staff and students accessed pornography from school computers. The saviour alleged that she was told by Michael Auld's then aide Melinda Gavin that he had a porn addiction and accessed it from school. According to Barracus, there was an incident for which Michael Auld ws reprimanded by Terry Mahony in 2006 when he started a computer and displayed pornography on a whiteboard attached to the computer.

According to whistleblowers, Louise Smith was also reported for accessing pornography as was Anne Baskerville.

"Diva" and savecarenne told Carenne Gate that they approached Terry Mahony in June of 2006 and reported Ros Luther encouraging students to access pornographic websites as it was a reliable source of 'sex education'.

Following the filtering of the internet at Carenne, teachers would bring in thumb drives containing pornography. The Saviours claim that assistant principal Terry Neal and Michael Auld would trade porn with male students. Some Saviours say that there is pornography on the hard drives of some school computers placed there by staff.

Claims of leaks being plugged fabricated

Continued claims by Carenne Special School principal Neil Moon and Bathurst Schools Director that leaks at Carenne have been plugged are a complete fabrication and are intended to mislead parents, staff and investigators about this blog and other information being leaked from the school.

Carenne Gate can reveal that despite claims that documents held at the school are secure, it continues to receive leaked documents on an almost daily basis.

Most recently, Carenne Gate received a copy of an email leaked to it by 'hatho' where Bev Masters advised Neil Moon that she was transferring to Bathurst High School. According to the Carenne Saviours, Michael Auld bandied a copy of the email around the school, handing it to a number of staff and saying "we got rid of her."

Other emails of a personal nature, legal communications and information about school finance has been accessed by Mr Auld and given to a number of staff.

Despite continued claims by Mr Harvey and Mr Moon that information at the school is secure, this is clearly false. Mr Harvey and Mr Moon have also misled parents and investigators by claiming that this blog contains no truth and its sole contributors are disgruntled ex-employees and parents.

Terry Neal tells student to "get fucked"

A concerned parent from Carenne Special School contacted Carenne Gate this week to report vulgar behaviour by assistant principal Terry Neal.

The parent told Carenne Gate that their son had returned home from school on Friday and told her that there was an altercation between Mr Neal and another student. During the altercation, the student told Mr Neal to "get fucked", to which Mr Neal replied "You can get fucked too."

According to the Carenne Saviours, this abuse towards students is typical of Mr Neal. One Saviour told Carenne Gate:

"That is nothing. I have heard Terry Neal call students the c word, make fun of them when they haven't been able to perform a task in the gym and even threaten them. The man doesn't have the patience to be a teacher."

Another Saviour told Carenne Gate that this type of abuse towards students started when Jock Roxborough was principal. She claims that Mr Roxborough would use vulgar language himself and was even known to tell staff to physically assault students.

This is yet another incident which demonstrates the incompetence of Peter Harvey and Neil Moon who continue to do nothing about staff conduct issues.

Student laptops hidden by corrupt teacher

Corrupt teacher at Carenne Special School and member of the group of staff referred to as the KLAN recently came under fire for not giving out laptops under the federal government's program.

Carenne Gate can reveal that six laptops were received for distribution to students, but the Carenne Saviours claim Mr Auld has them packed in a storeroom because he claims they are too difficult to use and look after. Each year 9 student should have received a laptop.

Despite this, Neil Moon has lied to parents and told them that no laptops were received as it is a special scbool.

Concerns have also been voiced about teacher's laptops. Under the program., tachers with students in years 9 to 12 to prepare learning materials. In defiance of this, Margaret Rowe and Janelle Kemp, both infants staff received two of the laptops last year the other two going to Michael Auld and Kym Tattersall.

It shows that Mr Auld is incompetent and can't follow guidelines and that Mr Moon is a liar that's word is worthless.

Hadley attacks Carenne supporting MP Martin

Popular talkback radio host on 2UE in Sydney, Ray Hadley has launched a second day of attacks on Gerard Martin, Member for Bathurst following his speech in parliament on Friday where he attacked the radio shock jock.

Protected by parliamentary privilege, Mr Martin said that Hadley had taken a "shine" to him following Mr Hadley being contacted by a distraught widow who had asked Mr Martin for assistance following the death of her husband due to an ambulance getting lost en-route to her property in Cullen Bullen, near Lithgow. Mr Hadley contacted Mr Martin on the widow's behalf and began questioning Mr Martin about his lack of assistance, before Mr Martin called him a "bully" and a "thug" and hung up on him.

Mr Martin subsequently spun a story to the local media attempting to paint the widow as a liar and was exposed for knowing of the council of which he used to serve as mayor on sealing the wrong road.

In Mr Martin's farewell speech, he made allegations that Hadley has no ethics and is only there to earn money before claiming he was a flawed human being.

Hadley immediately hit back, claiming that Mr Martin was gutless for using parliamentary privilege to attack him. On his show, Mr Hadley said “I’ll tell you what, when it comes to having no scruples, you’re captain, coach and sole selector,”

“The difference is, of course, you may wish to sue me because I’m saying it here. You have no guts. Go outside parliament and say I’ve got no ethics and see how I bore it up you, you lowlife bludger.”

Mr Hadley went on to slam Martin's recollection of the circumstances of Kevin McFadden's death, which Martin told parliament “An ambulance supposedly had not turned up to an accident. Apparently there were three of them.”

Hadley said that Martin was a "lying lowlife" and that the truth was:
“The ambulance didn’t turn up to the death of a man who suffered a heart attack and his poor wife Velma … eventually got an apology from the ambulance service because the bloody ambulance didn’t turn up at the right address because it wasn’t equipped with the necessary GPS equipment to get it to the right address.

“You see, that’s what he thinks of his constituents, this lowlife bludger."

Mr Hadley's attacks continued today, flanked by Velma McFadden, Mr McFadden's widow.

Gerard Martin has repeatedly come under fire by Carenne Gate for leaking confidential communications with a whistleblower to Carenne principal Lyn Duncan and for claiming that people outside of the Bathurst region have no right commenting on issues at the school. In an email to myself on 17 November 2009, Mr Martin said:

In response to your e-mail the 17th of the 11th regarding Carenne special school I make the following observations.

I have always been and will continue to be a strong supporter of the school.

The fact that something has been revealed on Indymedia does not make it true. I am aware of many libellous and untrue statements posted on that website. I am Also intrigued as to how and why people who do not live in the area have no knowledge or links to the school can add to the mischievous innuendo and rumour.

I am confident that the departmental and police investigations will reveal the true story. In the meantime the genuine and honest supporters of Carenne school will continue to support the school as it goes about its very important work

Mr Martin would now be aware that much of the true story has been revealed about the Carenne Special School, with serious claims of child abuse, corruption and bullying being covered up by Mr Martin's friends.

In my view, the Bathurst community will lose nothing by Gerard Martin not contesting the next state election as he has been deeply involved in the persecution and cover-ups at Carenne Special School.

Is Angie Cranston the aide from hell?

The Carenne Saviours have contacted Carenne Gate concerned about staffing adjustments being made at Carenne Special School due to her relentless bullying and harassment of other staff. Despite a history of incompetence, sexual misconduct, misuse of school equipment and being named in bullying complaints, Neil Moon does nothing about Cranston's misconduct.

"Angie is part of Neil Moon's inner circle" said one Saviour.

The Saviours allege that Angie Cranston, along with Simone Russell, Michael Auld and Margaret Rowe was responsible for spreading rumours throughout the school that Prue Luffman was having an affair with Peter Richards, leading to Mrs Luffman's nervous breakdown and resignation from Carenne. They also claim that along with Lucy Thornton, Angie Cranston hid or destroyed evidence that Carenne Support were not providing therapy to students which they had claimed they were doing therapy on.

The Saviours claim that Barbara Woolfe resigned from Carenne after working with Mrs Cranston, who made several serious allegations about her including claims that Mrs Woolfe was abusing children.

Earlier in the year, Kelly Thompson, a teacher highly regarded by parents was forced on to stress leave after she was bullied and harassed by Mrs Cranston. The department has since relocated her to Bathurst West Public to take her out of the stressful environment at Carenne.

The latest teacher to fall victim to Mrs Cranston is Matt Casey, who now refuses to work in the class despite being offered block work on that class. According to the Saviours, Mr Casey claimed he could not work with a woman like Mrs Cranston who pushed staff around and who neglected the welfare of students.

The failure of Neil Moon and Peter Harvey to take action against Mrs Cranston shows the special treatment members of the so-called Carenne Klan receive from the department.

New site launched

I am proud to announce that with the plethora of issues plaguing the Department of Education and Training in the Western Region that I have launched a new site: detgate.blogspot.com where issues at schools other than the now infamous Carenne Special School will be reported on and discussed.

"Did Janelle Kemp tell the John Maclean Foundation about her milking of the system?": Carenne Saviours

The Carenne Saviours have contacted Carenne Gate asking whether the John Maclean Foundation were told about the benefits the Kemp family have received from a number of sources including Carenne Support. King Cain Bathurst Wallabies Tri Club nominated the corrupt teacher's son as one of two beneficiaries of a fundraising campaign to be conducted by the John Maclean Foundation.

The Carenne Saviours contacted Carenne Gate last week, prior to it being reported in the Western Advocate asking whether or not the John Maclean Foundation were informed about the benefits the Kemp family has received from a variety of local sources before they decided to attempt to raise $10,000 for the child.

"Do they know that Janelle's son received a $6,500 walker from Carenne Support, how about the support from Country Energy?" said one Saviour.

Another saviour said "There are far more deserving students at Carenne than Will, his family's income is over $150,000 per year, they can afford to support him themselves, there are parents at Carenne strugging on less than $15,000 per year but they get nothing."

The article in the Western Advocate neglected to mention that Mrs Kemp was a teacher at Carenne despite mentioning that Will was a student there.

Parents ask "Where are the laptops Mr Auld?"

A number of parents of year 9 students who were promised to receive laptops under the federal government laptop program have contacted Carenne Gate asking for an investigation into where their children's laptops are.

The operation of the federal laptop program at Carenne has been criticised, following allegations that Michael Auld intended on changing what the school applied for last year without consultation and efforts by Auld to have parents agree to their child not receiving a laptop but instead agree to the school purchasing software which would be kept by the school.

Despite Auld telling parents at a meeting held for parents with students going into year 9 last year that if they wanted they would receive a laptop, several year 9 parents have contacted Carenne Gate to report that their children have not received their computer.

Neil Moon as the school principal should immediately advise parents on where the laptop program is up to and explain why parents have not received their child's laptop.

Grahams caught ripping off the SNTS again

Despite being featured on this blog in March and June for being caught out defrauding the Special Needs Transport Service, Craig and Michelle Graham continue to defraud the Department of Education and Training, claiming that they are returning to Blayney each day when they spend many of them in Bathurst.

Carenne Gate understands that on each day that the Grahams do not return to Blayney, they defraud $160 for their employer Capebase and around $40 for Michelle Graham herself.

Carenne Gate can report that it has received information from a teacher at Carenne that she overheard the Grahams tell Janelle Kemp that they were not returning to Blayney today and asked who would be out in the school buses. The teacher, known as Zebra, claims to have seen the Grahams in Bathurst at 12:10PM, when they should have been in Blayney.

The Grahams have shown that they are willing to defraud the state government for their boss' and their own personal gain.

Moon's Wiseman's Ferry excursion arrangements questioned

Regular readers of this blog might recall a story in August where Libertarian discussed corrupt arrangements made by Neil Moon for the staffing of an excursion to Jindabyne. In that story it was reported that Moon had allocated Angie Cranston to be the aide on the trip so she would receive pay to make up for her taking an extra holiday over the July holidays. Carenne Gate has been tipped off that once more, Carenne Special School principal Neil Moon is using questionable staffing arrangements for excursions.

At present, Michael Auld's class are on an excursion to Wiseman's Ferry on the Hawkesbury River North of Windsor. Despite Melinda Gavin being the usual aide for the class, Neil Moon has employed a young woman who has only worked on and off as a casual to act as aide on the trip with Gavin left wandering about the school doing nothing.

While speaking with Carenne Gate, one Carenne whistleblower asked "Why is the school paying for an extra aide because Melinda didn't go on this trip? Why should it have to pay for a casual? If she didn't want to go she should have swapped positions with someone else and they should have went in her place."

Another whistleblower told Carenne Gate that she had concerns about the aide's ability to look after the students. "A week long camp with special needs students isn't something you get a freshman without experience to come along and supervise, you need someone with plenty of experience and a good rapport with the students."

"What does concern me is that these students are seniors and this aide is not all that much older than them. It is the perfect opportunity for allegations to be made along the lines of what happened with David Withyman and how is she going to defend them?"

The arrangements go to show the complete incompetence of Neil Moon when it comes to staffing at the school. It shows that he is willing to do personal favours for people without considering the implications for the school.

Bathurst RDA has its grand opening amid claims it has taken participation fees from the school during its suspension

Yesterday marked the official opening of the Bathurst Riding for the Disabled Association's new site behind Carenne Special School by NSW Governor Prof Marie Bashir. The official opening coincided with the organisation's 30th birthday.

As reported in the Western Advocate, the new facility has been operating since June 2009. During that time there have been numerous disruptions caused by the incompetence and corruption of Michael Auld and Melinda Gavin. According to the Carenne Saviours, this year the RDA program has ran for two months at most.

The longest disruption to the program came when it was discovered in July that the board of RDA failed to have public liability insurance, believing that they could rely on the Department of Education and Training's insurance. Despite this, RDA still charged the school $80 per term per student for those who were to attend the program.

Carenne Gate calls on the committee of RDA to calculate the amount of time the program has ran this year and return any over payments by Carenne to it.

Witness to bus driver abusing student told to "shut up"

Carenne whistleblower Barracus has reported that she witnessed a bus driver assaulting a student yesterday afternoon and was told to "shut up" about it when she reported it to Carenne Special School principal, Neil Moon.

Barracus claims that she saw the Carenne Support vehicle driven by Dave Graham parked at the rest area at Mount Lambie where he had a student known to often be locked in a storeroom by Ros Luther outside the vehicle and was physically hitting him on the back and buttocks. Barracus claims to of tried to ring the school immediately but could not get an answer.

Barracus claims that when she got to school this morning she spoke to the principal Neil Moon and reported what she had seen. She was told to "shut up" and not to tell anyone about the incident because it would cause "too many problems" and cast more "negative light" upon the school. Barracus says that she told Mr Moon that it was likely that members of the public saw the assault as it was on the side of the highway in a vehicle which clearly states Carenne School. Mr Moon told her "the last thing we need right now is for someone to report this to the Police, I have them convinced there is nothing wrong here, keep it quiet and it will be all OK".

Barracus says that she expects that Mr Graham will cover-up the incident because his wife was the escort on his bus.

It is concerning that Mr Moon is more interested in the reputation of the school than the welfare of students. Carenne Gate calls for the immediate investigation of this matter.

Carenne staff questioned by DET

With a plethora of lawsuits pending against the Department of Education and Training and Carenne Support, a team from the department's legal branch descended upon the school on Friday to interview a number of staff, past and present.

The Carenne Saviours claim that as with most of these 'interview days' as they are now called, the department calls on those which it knows will lie and say what it wants. One Saviour told Carenne Gate:
"Of course they are going to lie for the department, they know that they need to cover their own hides now. They know that they need to either set someone else up or deny it happening."

Of most concern is claims by Carenne staff that staff from the legal branch have asked for documents to be falsified or to go missing. "Terry Mahony openly boasted that he was asked by the department's solicitors to make up a contract for Nathan Carter so they could use it in court," said Barracus.

With the number of issues at Carenne it is time that senior staff start putting pressure on Peter Harvey to clean up the school.

DET whistleblower claims Carenne has more worker's comp claims than other schools in Bathurst

A DET whistleblower has told Carenne Gate that he has been concerned about the lack of action at Carenne on OH&S matters with the school having more worker's compensation and injury claims than any other school in the Bathurst district.

The whistleblower claims that the school has an abnormally high number of claims for psychological injuries with back injuries also higher than most other schools.

"You can tell Peter Harvey time and time again that something needs to be done at Carenne but he just doesn't listen, he says the stress issues are caused by external factors," said the whistleblower.

The whistleblower claims that a number of staff at the school are repeatedly named in claims as causing problems, yet the department doesn't do anything about it. "You often see Angie Cranston named as being a bully at the school, yet the school won't do anything about her."

It shows that the environment at Carenne is a major concern which department officials are taking a blind eye to.

Responsibilities blurred at Carenne for years: Rosenberg

Carenne Special School whistleblower, "Jake Rosenberg" has spoken out about teachers leaving aides unattended with students in direct defiance of their role statement, child protection rules and against the advice of their union.

Rosenberg reports that it is common practice at Carenne for teachers to leave the classroom for extended periods and expect for the aide to supervise students. Rosenberg also says that aides have been asked to use their own vehicles to transport groups of students to and from work placements. She claims that this practice has been supported by successive principals from Jock Roxborough through to Neil Moon.

When Rosenberg raised the issue with Mr Moon, she was told not to be a "whinger" and to just do her job.

Rosenberg claims that the worst culprit for leaving their aide unattended with students for extended periods is Anne Baskerville. "She leaves her aides all the time, she might get a call from Neil Moon to go to another class to settle a student down but most of the time she is outside speaking, cuddling and kissing [name removed]."

Rosenberg says she is concerned about what would happen if there was an incident in the class while Baskerville was off doing something else. "It's the class for the really disabled kids, the ones that need to be looked after more than the rest, she shouldn't be off frolicking with other students or being called to other rooms, it's wrong."

Rosenberg says that the problem is spread throughout the school. "Peter Richards, Michael Auld, Ros Luther, they all leave aides unattended with students. On work experience days aides and teachers take kids to work in their own cars."

Barracus told Carenne Gate that the practice of taking students to work placements by both teachers and aides needed to be re-evaluated.

"I have told Neil Moon that it is asking for another allegation to be made. There were allegations that Anna Blackburn and David Withyman were getting intimate to and from work and TAFE, what's to stop that happening again. Nothing. Of course, you know what Moon did? Blew me off!," said Barracus.

According to documents by the Public Service Association, School Learning Support Officers (formerly teacher's aides) are not to supervise students. They are also not to take them to and from work experience or other activities. Only teachers can supervise students. The PSA recommends that any SLSO who is pressured to do this should contact them.

What it shows is that once more, the executive of Carenne are incapable of following the department's child protection guidelines. It also shows the appalling leadership qualities of Mr Moon who will not listen to concerns from his staff.

Bathurst West neglected student with suspected meningococal disease

Carenne Special School is not the only school under Peter Harvey's supervision which is engulfed in claims of incompetence, corruption and child neglect. A parent has reported to Carenne Gate about how they observed a student showing signs of meningococal disease being neglected by the school's first aid officer Marilyn Austen and acting principal Kerrie Lloyd.

The parent reports that they overheard a conversation where Mrs Austen and Mrs Lloyd refused to call an ambulance, despite the student being in pain, with a rash on his chest and fever. Both Mrs Lloyd and Mrs Austen left the student who was in significant distress alone in the schools sick bay and ignored him, claiming that he was acting up.

The parent claims that she heard another teacher call the ambulance when Austen and Lloyd refused to do so only to be castigated for it.

In another serious breach of department policy, when the ambulance did arrive, an administrative and support staff member who was visiting from another school went in the ambulance with the student to supervise him. According to departmental guidelines, only teachers can be responsible for the supervision of students.

Tests at the hospital, where the student was admitted for two to three days, discovered that the student had a virus which mimicked the potentially fatal disease.

It is frightening to think that staff of another of Peter Harvey's schools seriously neglected a student who presented with signs of a disease that can kill without medical attention in a matter of hours. As with what happens at Carenne, the incident was covered up at the order of senior department officers, fearful that legal action could be taken against them and the school for seriously breaching their duty of care.

In the Bathurst district, it would appear that the wellbeing of students is of little concern and is one of the last considerations of department staff.

Security of questionnaires compromised, Police accused of encouraging leaks

Carenne whistleblower "Karachi" has spoken to Carenne Gate about how the security of police questionnaires distributed last month has been compromised and how Mr Auld was encouraged to leak information to the blog. The whistleblower claims that some staff were told not to place security seals on their envelopes so that their responses could be checked by DET officials, while others were removed and placed in new envelopes with new seals supplied by another police officer.

The police questionnaire has been controversial since it was first distributed, with both the Teacher's Federation and the Public Service Association advising staff not to complete it.

Karachi claims that in addition to new envelopes and seals being used, the system used by the police to trace letters and questionnaires was known to select staff at the school. "Michael Auld told me that he was told by the Police how they could identify each questionnaire," said Karachi.

"When I asked him what the mechanisms were, he told me that when Neil Moon handed out the questionnaires he wrote down who was allocated which number. These numbers were also encoded on the covering letter of the questionnaire. Each letter belonged to a particular envelope. In the letter, a mark was placed underneath the letter corresponding with that envelope's number."

Karachi claims that the letter on this blog corresponded to envelope number 8, as the 't' in 'Bathurst', the 8th letter had been marked.

Karachi says they were seriously concerned that Mr Auld knew the security processes in place and says that Auld claimed to have been told by one of the investigating detectives how the system worked. "Michael told me that one of the detectives asked him to send questionnaires and letters marked in certain ways to the people running this blog so they could set those people up for leaking information and take the heat of Simone and Scott." Karachi claims that he took copies of some people's letters and questionnaires as they saw him in the release office with some of them on the computer screen, while Melinda Gavin was laughing over his shoulder.

This shows that the investigation must be suspended until a taskforce, composed of detectives from outside of Bathurst can be set up because at least one of the detectives running the investigation has no compromised it.

Carenne Gate holds RDA to account

Following a series of articles on this blog about the Bathurst Riding for the Disabled Association horse riding and therapy farm programs being suspended because of the RDA committee failing to have proper public liability insurance. In June we exposed that Michael Auld, member of the both the RDA governance committee and the school RDA committee was planning on charging students to visit the therapy farm.

The school sent a letter at the beginning of the last term, telling parents that they would have to pay $30 for their child to attend the RDA therapy farm.

Parents were sent home a letter this week telling them that the therapy farm would be starting again very soon and that due to it not running last term, parents who had paid the full $30 would be refunded $15. Those who had not paid were asked to pay $15 for this term.

Students who take part in the RDA horse riding program will be able to access the therapy farm for free.

Strange staffing practices continue at Carenne

Despite coming under fire for employing friends and family over others, using nepotistic procedures when filling permanent positions and allowing a teacher who wasn't approved by the Department of Education and Training to teach for a number of weeks, senior staff at Carenne are still resorting to truly bizarre staffing practices.

It has been learned that on Tuesday the 21st of September, Lucy Thornton declared she was relieving for School Administration Officer Rhonda Griffiths and paid accordingly, despite relieving School Learning Support Officer Simone Russell who was working in the office in Ms Griffith's place. It appears that executive staff at Carenne neglected to consider what would of happened if Mrs Thornton had been injured or if a student was injured, because as far as anyone knew, Mrs Thornton was working in the office.

Even more bizarrely, Anne Baskerville's SLSO was away for the day and because Sue Sewell was working on another class that day, she arranged to have a 16 year-old female student from Laurie Healey's classroom assist her for the day. The school executive and in particular Laurie Healey allowed a disabled 16 year-old student to assist a teacher with looking after six high-support needs students.

During term 2, Anne Baskerville sucessfully had Neil Moon employ another aide for the class as she claimed the workload and supervision required in that room showed that it was necessary. For most of term 2, the class was supervised by three adults. Mr Moon terminated funding for this arrangement in term 3, and despite Ms Baskerville's claims that the room needs three adults, she allowed a 16 year-old student to work as an aide.

These strange and bizarre staffing practices show that under the school's current leadership there remain serious issues which the department has not attempted to address.

Bathurst West principal steals stroller donated to fire victims

Following a tragic house fire in Bathurst a few weeks ago where a young child lost their life, Bathurst West Public School ran an appeal for parents to donate items to help the family to get back on to their feet.

According to staff of the school, a stroller which was of high-quality and in excellent condition was donated to the family but was removed by principal Toni MacDonald who took the stroller home, presumably for her own friends and family. Mrs MacDonald's greed deprived a family who has just lost everything the stroller.

The incident highlights the truly malignant state of the school system in the Bathurst district and shows that while Carenne Special School may have some of the most serious issues in the district, other schools have problems as well which points to poor leadership by Peter Harvey and Carole McDiarmid.

Carenne's temporary executive, a family affair

With the absence of Terry Neal and Neil Moon who are both taking leave and Lee Churches due to illness only one member of the school's ordinary executive remains - Louise Smith. Due to the absences, the school has two staff who are assistant principals in a relieving capacity.

Laurie Healey has been appointed to relieve Terry Neal's executive position to the end of term and Janelle Kemp has been appointed to relieve Lee Churches' executive position until she returns.

Staff at the school are concerned about the relieving assistant principal appointment process due to Janelle Kemp being a close friend of Louise Smith's and Laurie Healey's aunt.

Barracus told Carenne Gate that Janelle Kemp and Laurie Healey were both inexperienced and were incapable of performing a management role. "Janelle has only had special ed qualifications for about two years, she got the teaching position initially because she had a disabled son and was a friend of Louise Smith's from Eglinton school,"

"Janelle was part of the corrupt merit selection last year that Lyn and Lee rigged, the job was all fixed up before the interviews, there is a secret list on who will be appointed to the next permanent position at the school and it is always followed."

Barracus was also scathing of Miss Healey and her position at the school. "Laurie is another one whos job was fixed up, it was preplanned that she would get a permanent position. She hasn't been a teacher all that long and there have been serious concerns about her conduct around teenage boys, she dresses inappropriately for work and is over-familiar with some. That is why she has a mostly female class now,"

"I couldn't believe it at the end of last term when Neil Moon said she would be relieving for Terry Neal, she has minimal teaching experience and from what I hear even had a history of issues at Bathurst West, why would you place her in an executive position?"

A number of staff have said they are concerned that of the present three executives at the school, two are related and the only non-relative is a close friend of one of the others. Staff have also complained about Janelle Kemp performing the principal's job today, believing that Louise Smith would have been the most appropriate person to fill the role, as she has executive experience.

"The school is becoming an even bigger joke every day because of the complete stupidity of allowing someone as inexperienced as Janelle Kemp lead the school," said whistleblower Gretel.

The Police Questionnaire

Following uproar about the Police questionnaire and claims in another thread that there was no such survey, I have decided to post it here.

Police questionnaire not voluntary or confidential: nedkelly

Carenne Special School klansmen turned whistleblower, nedkelly has told Carenne Gate that the police questionnaire that staff are being asked to complete is anything but voluntary or confidential due to the actions of Carenne principal Neil Moon.

Nedkelly, one of the targets of the Police in the questionnaire claims that Neil Moon went from class to class today, badgering staff for their questionnaire, saying that he knew who had returned them and who hadn't. She alleges that Neil Moon told her that he would be forwarding a list of names of people who didn't complete the survey to Peter Harvey so that action could be taken against them. Nedkelly also says that Neil Moon told her that anyone who didn't complete the form or who refused to give permission for the Police to examine their computers would be suspects.

In the covering letter for the questionnaire, Detective Senior Constable Steve Innes states that "Your participation in completing the questionnaire is completely voluntary and all information will remain confidential." Neil Moon's actions show that this is not correct, at least on his part.

According to Nedkelly -

"Every return envelope is numbered and there is a list of who took which envelope, Neil knows exactly who returns them and who doesn't and when he comes around to your class while you are working, demanding it and threatening them if he is told that they were thinking of not returning it, it's so obvious that it isn't confidential. He knows who is handing them back and who isn't."

Nedkelly told Carenne Gate that she was concerned that Neil Moon told staff what he wanted written on the form. "He told us that we should write all the same people on the form so that they can be blamed, he said that he wanted to make sure the attention was on a few former employees, a few parents and a couple of problematic 'current' staff."

Unions have advised staff not to complete the questionnaire, however staff are concerned about their jobs and being hassled by Police and many have not followed their union's advice.

Staff claim that they are were bullied and harassed by Neil Moon about completing the form and what to put on it.

Unions intervene, Neil Moon blamed for placing "undue stress" on staff over Police questionnaire

The Teacher's Federation and Public Service Association have advised Carenne Special School staff to not take part in the questionnaire being undertaken by Bathurst Detectives relating to this blog.

One of the Carenne Saviours told Carenne Gate that she had contacted her union after receiving the questionnaire from Carenne principal Neil Moon, who told her that it was inappropriate for Mr Moon to be supporting such an investigation when investigations should be carried out by the education department's serious misconduct unit.

The Teacher's Federation reportedly claimed that Neil Moon's actions of passing the questionnaires out and telling staff that if they didn't complete them their employment would be terminated placed "undue stress" upon staff.

An anonymous source told Carenne Gate that they believed the police were simply "fishing for information" for the education department, conducting the questionnaire with the intention of giving the findings back to the department. "The whole process is flawed, why have Neil Moon hand out the forms and receive them back? It's completely unacceptable."

It provides further evidence that the Police are not serious about dealing with real issues at Carenne and would instead prefer to silence dissenters.

Why are police forms being returned via Moon? staff ask

Over the past few days, Carenne Special School staff have been given a package, purported to be from Detectives Justene Priest and Steve Innes relating to this blog. In the covering letter, it states that Bathurst Detectives are conducting an investigation into this blog and invite all staff at Carenne to complete a questionnaire.

The letter states that the questionnaire is voluntary and all information will be kept confidential but goes on to request that they be returned to Neil Moon when they are complete.

The questionnaire, goes on to ask whether or not the person is aware of this site, how they found out about it, who they know to post on it, who posts under a myriad of names, whether or not they have accessed or posted on the blog and whether or not they consent to police examining their computer for evidence of accessing this blog.

A number of staff have expressed concern about whether or not the questionnaire will be truly confidential and about the form having to be returned to Neil Moon in identifiable envelopes.

Whistleblower nedkelly told Carenne Gate -

"Why ask if you have accessed it? Everyone at the school reads it, it's like the Carenne staff bulletin, if you want to know what is happening you read this blog. If you answer yes, are they goign to treat you as a criminal? If you answer no, they will know you are a liar"

One of the Carenne Saviours told Carenne Gate -
"We were told a different story by Neil Moon, he told us that if the questionnaire wasn't completed that he would have us sacked. This isn't what the police letter said. I am curious about whether or not the questionnaire was even written by the police, it looks very similar to documents which were generated while Simone Russell was SAM. It sounds to me more like something they are collating for the department than for an investigation. I can't believe they are so worried about this blog when it is all lies according to them and the KLAN."

Barracus told Carenne Gate -
"I find it amazing that they are more interested in finding out who is leaking information from the school and trying to shut them up than looking into some of the allegations made, there are serious problems at school and they have been covered up for years, just look at Withyman."

Barracus was also concerned about how the forms were to be returned, telling us "Why on Earth would you have the forms returned via the principal? I don't care that it has a security seal, he wouldn't care he would just open it up."

RDA still on hold due to Auld and Gavin's mistake

It's been almost six weeks since Carenne Gate exposed that the Riding for the Disabled Association in Bathurst, of which Carenne Special School staff Michael Auld and Melinda Gavin are on the management committee didn't have public liability insurance.

The RDA program has been suspended due to the error, with an RDA whistleblower telling Carenne Gate in July that Michael Auld didn't believe RDA needed the insurance and that the school's insurance would cover the association. Following the discovery that Michael Auld and Melinda Gavin had considered it unimportant to have public liability insurance, the association's president Nola Ramsay stood down, not wishing to be associated with such a poorly ran organisation.

Despite it being six weeks since RDA had to suspend its activities, proper insurance has still not been obtained, despite the school paying the association $80 per student who was to attend the program this term six weeks ago. Nedkelly told Carenne Gate "It's complete bullshit that RDA has been paid by the school for this term when none of the students can go there, what sort of ****wit would agree to that?"

Concerns have also been raised about the therapy farm, also ran through RDA, for which parents were asked to contribute $25 per term towards so students could spend 45 minutes per week there. Nedkelly said "The therapy farm is bullshit too, the students can't go to that because of the insurance, yet you have Auld going on about how great the animals at the farm are coming along and how his class are working there.

"How can Auld's class possibly be on-site when there is no insurance? He is doing what he calls work experience there."

It's high time that the members of RDA, who are being led astray by the likes of Mr Auld and Mrs Gavin sack the commitee and start elect new people to run the association.

Salmon attacked whistleblower because of Kemp and hatho, charges dismissed

Geoffrey Salmon, director of Carenne Support - the organisation at the centre of corruption claims engulfing Carenne Special School had charges dismissed against him on Tuesday in the local court.

Mr Salmon was charged with obstructing traffic and entering a vehicle unlawfully following his attack on whistleblower Brian Carter during a protest against corruption and child abuse at Carenne in December last year.

According to hatho, Mr Salmon admitted to attempting to carjack Mr Carter and assaulting him, but successfully claimed that he was distressed when it happened.

"Geoff said that he left the presentation ceremony to talk to Carter because Janelle and I were scared he might come inside and cause a scene. I was terrified that he would come into B-Mec and start telling people about his views on Carenne, it would have been embarrassing for us." said hatho.

Hatho claimed -

"Geoff was open and honest at court, he said he attacked Carter and tried to stop him driving his van embarrassing the school. He was distressed and wanted Carter to go home. "

"The magistrate dismissed the charges against Geoff because he was distressed because of how Janelle and I were."

Inquiries made by Carenne Gate with the local court registry indicated that Magistrate Jan Stevenson dismissed the charges against Mr Salmon due to extenuating circumstances. The court officer invited us to visit the registry to look over the file if we wanted more details.

Further information will be posted as it becomes known.

Carenne Public School under the spotlight as SMH reports on court finding that Carenne teacher had sex with a student

Carenne Public School has come under the spotlight in the mainstream media following Judge Elkaim's judgment yesterday where he found that former Carenne teacher, Anna Blackburn had a sexual relationship with student David Withyman.

The judge stopped short of finding that the department and Carenne had breached their duty of care on the basis that Ms Blackburn's behaviour amounted to ''an act of such unexpected 'madness' that a reasonable person would not have taken precautions to prevent it''.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a report here.

Parents may be called upon to keep class budgets afloat

According to information and documents received from Carenne Special School whistleblowers, a number of classes have used their budget for the year and now parents may be called upon to keep key school programs such as cooking afloat.

According to the information, Michael Auld, Peter Richards, Laurie Healey, Nadine Dwyer and Ros Luther have exhausted their class budget for this year, with another three months to go in the school year. According to an email between Helen Windsor, Carenne's new administrator and Neil Moon leaked to Carenne Gate last week several classes are close to or have exceeded their budget and parents may need to contribute money towards independent living schools programs for those classes if the programs are to continue until the end of the year.

According to one Carenne Saviour, a conversation took place between Mr Moon and Mrs Windsor last week where she told him that she was concerned about the amount of money Michael Auld had been putting down for work experience activities associated with the Riding for the Disabled Association.

Hatho told Carenne Gate that the problems were associated with Mrs Windsor not being creative enough -

"This write your class name on every receipt is rubbish, when Simone was SAM, if one class' budget was exceeded she would just allocate that to a class which wasn't and which had fewer costs, that way important programs can continue, she is just not being creative enough."

The comment by hatho indicates that under Mrs Russell's administration, much of the school's funding was being diverted away from where it should have been going. Instead of allowing teachers who routinely go over their budget to siphon funds from elsewhere they should be more careful of the public's money.

A saviour told Carenne Gate that Kelly Thompson had one of the best systems for classroom funds. "Kelly actually had the class deliver newspapers as part of both their PE and to receive money for classroom activities and reward activities. For other activities she would have the parents make a very small contribution which if not received would exclude the student from that activity like an ordinary school. Auld and Churches hated this because they said she was being too tough, but she claimed it taught the students to be responsible."

As we have seen far too often at Carenne, a few get a free ride and special treatment to the detriment of others.

Moon pledges to fix the "dildo issue"

Neil Moon, Carenne's principal who was at the Carenne Support fundraiser on Friday when two staff members presented a sex toy as their unusual item has pledged to staff that he will fix the "dildo issue" and make the problem go away.

A number of staff said they were shocked to see photographs of the event around the whiteboard in the staff room with the words "CONGRATULATIONS" written near them after the horrendous behaviour on the night.

At the staff meeting this afternoon, Mr Moon told staff that he has spoken to Peter Harvey about the issue and told him that he did not see a sex toy at the event. He told all other staff to say they saw and heard nothing about a dildo being present, as it had the potential to spark a large scale investigation.

According to a whistleblower at the meeting, Mr Moon told staff that they didn't need the stress of an allegation like this and he would ensure the "dildo issue" went away. It shows the lengths that the likes of Mr Moon will go to to ensure that the truth about what happens at Carenne is hidden.

The events of Friday night show just why Carenne needs this blog to expose the truth about what happens at Carenne.

Molenkamp, Cranston commit "sexual misconduct": SEA Snitch

Bathurst Schools Office whistleblower, "SEA Snitch" has spoken to Carenne Gate advising that a number of departmental rules were broken on Friday night at the controversial Dinner Dance where staff took a vibrator as an "unusual item" in the presence of a young lady and staff.

The whistleblower said that the most serious incident would involve the sex toy, which was bought to the function in the presence of a young person. SEA Snitch claims that the conduct of Karina Molenkamp and Angie Cranston in showing the sex toy and slapping each other with it is considered sexual misconduct and as such they have to stood down and subject to investigation.

"We already know that Peter doesn't take these seriously. There were allegations of reportable conduct made about Churches and Russell neglecting their own children and he covered those up," said SEA Snitch.

SEA Snitch also said that principal Neil Moon should have intervened and reported the incident under child protection guidelines.

SEA Snitch said -

"The fact that the youngest person there was 16 is still covered by the child protection guidelines and legislation. She is a young person and their behaviour is sexual misconduct. If Moon doesn't report it then he should also be sacked for covering it up."

SEA Snitch said that the use of alcohol while a young person was disallowed under the code of conduct as far as they are aware. SEA Snitch lays the blame fairly at Carenne Support who organised the event and the school executive, who should have known better in their assessment.

"The code of conduct is clear, there is to be no alcohol at school functions where young people, children or students are present. Obviously this wasn't followed in this case," complained SEA Snitch.

In addition to charges of sexual misconduct and breaching the code of conduct through the use of alcohol, SEA Snitch says that the conduct of those who bought the vibrator to the function could amount to sexual harassment, which is illegal in NSW and something which is prohibited by the code of conduct.

SEA Snitch said that they were also concerned about the negative impact the behaviour of staff will have on the school and the wider public education system in NSW.

Sex toy features at Dinner Dance, event a disgrace say attendees

Last night's Dinner Dance for Carenne Support Limited, the organisation central to the Carenne Gate affair was a complete disgrace according to a number of attendees. The Dinner Dance was held at the Bathurst RSL Club to raise funding for a sensory wall at the school. Attendee and Carenne Special School whistleblower nedkelly told Carenne Gate that she was shocked at the conduct of some of her colleagues and at Paul Knight's speech where he took aim at whistleblowers.

Paul Knight's speech mentioned that the school had been engulfed by problems for the last two years and that the only way for Carenne Special School and Carenne Support to survive was to "stick together". Attendees said that it was obvious that Mr Knight was having a shot at whistleblowers who are attempting to clean up Carenne Support and Carenne Special School.

According to nedkelly's estimates only around 80 people were in attendance and of those only two were parents not employed by or associated with Carenne Support or the school. "It was pretty bad considering that they told us that there would be at least 150 people there," Ned told Carenne Gate.

"It just shows how much support the school has lost, the school is really unpopular in the Bathurst community now, people are really over it all."

Another attendee told Carenne Gate that he wasn't surprised by the lack of interest and found it comical that after all the promotion of the event that hardly anybody showed up. The attendee said that it was apparent that the school no longer had the support they once had and that the bus debacle had made the public think twice about giving any money to Carenne Special School or Carenne Support.

"How do you know the money is going to Carenne for what they say. The whole community thought the buses were for the school, nobody told them that they weren't to be owned by the school but an organisation attached to the school which uses them to earn a huge profit," said the attendee.

Another attendee said she was surprised by the absence of Carenne fan Gerard Martin. "Gerard continues to support the rorts at Carenne yet didn't even show up for a supposed charity event for the school."

"I wonder if people know that because of Carenne Support using the buses for themselves that students in wheelchairs can't go on overnight excursions" he said.

All of the attendees who sent complaints to Carenne Gate complained about the conduct of staff at the charity event. One attendee said "how we as staff behave in public is how the school is perceived by the public, when you carry on like they did last night it sends a negative message to the public about the school."

Nedkelly told Carenne Gate that Carenne Support employee Mary Housler, known for attacking people on this blog was terribly drunk and had to be told not to stand on tables and "sexually harassing" a number of attendees including Paul Knight and Geoff Salmon. Nedkelly claims that she was "overly friendly" with Geoff Salmon who appeared very uncomfortable with Mrs Housler's advances.

According to one attendee, he was completely shocked when Karina Molenkamp and Angie Cranston showed the secret item they had bought to the event. "I'm not easily shocked but I couldn't believe it when they pulled out a vibrator, it was so inappropriate. How the department can let this happen is just beyond me, it has to be some sort of serious misconduct to take a sex toy to a school event at a place like the RSL" said the male complainant. Another attendee commented that Mrs Molenkamp and Mrs Cranston's behaviour was unacceptable and that it was only because they shared a table with Lee Churches, Margaret Rowe and Kym Tattersall that they got away with it. "If it had been anyone else, Neil Moon would have thrown them out."

Comments were also made about staff absences from the night. Nedkelly told Carenne Gate that she couldn't believe that Anne Baskerville, one of the people calling for a sensory wall didn't show up. Another attendee commented about Michael Auld breezing in and out of the event. "He might as well not have came along," said the attendee.

According to Carenne Support, they have raised enough money for the sensory wall they want for the school.

Saviours concerned about Jindabyne excursion arrangements, claim corrupt staff allocation made by Moon

A number of Carenne Special School staff are concerned about the supervision arrangements for the planned excursion to Jindabyne later in the week. According to staff, Peter Richards is not medically fit to supervise students so far from home and Angela Cranston is someone who is known to neglect her duties as an aide.

One of the Carenne Saviours told Carenne Gate -
"I am really concerned for both Peter and the kids, Peter has been having frequent epileptic seizures of late and it worries me that he will be responsible for children on this excursion. Another thing that worries me is if he drives and has a fit, even though he has been having fits at least twice a week and he still drives. What if he has a fit while driving on the highway, what about the students on the bus."

Another Carenne whistleblower told Carenne Gate that Angela Cranston was only selected to go on the excursion because she took an extra week's holiday in June for which she was unpaid and that the excursion would entitle her to extra pay which would cover the excursion. The whistleblower said "it's another case of Neil Moon looking after his friends, he couldn't care less about anyone else, he looks after Angie."

The whistleblower also claimed that Angela Cranston's conduct earlier this year when she neglected her duties as an aide and sent a group of students unsupervised back to the school after a teacher was injured while delivering circulars showed she was incapable of providing adequate supervision. "Just think if she leaves kids unsupervised in Jindabyne, it's frightening. She couldn't care less about students, she just wants the money."

Another whistleblower said "This is a woman who thinks its acceptable to supply a child with cigarettes, a child who was just 8 at the time. How can this woman, a child abuser be trusted on an excursion?"

Churches uses truancy officer for Carenne Support's benefit, Porter threatens sacked bus driver

According to Carenne Special School whistleblower Jake Rosenberg, Carenne Support CEO and therapy co-ordinator Christine Porter and Carenne Special School assistant principal and Carenne Support Director Lee Churches came up with a plan to bully a parent using the district truancy officer.

Rosenberg claims to have overheard a conversation last week where Porter said Carenne Support's profits had been lower as a result of some parents on its highly profitable Lithgow bus run keeping their children home. According to Rosenberg the only student on the run who regularly attended had been withdrawn from the school.

Churches was heard telling Porter that she would make sure the student was re-enrolled by "getting the truancy officer" on to the parents.

Churches is alleged to have told Porter that the other two students from the Lithgow area couldn't be counted on to maintain the $130,000 earned by the run.

During the discussion Rosenberg heard Mrs Porter say she would attack former Carenne bus driver Jenny O'Neill out if her salary was reduced to cover the shortfall.

It shows that profit comes before students with Carenne Support.

Inside the Klan: Churches and Housler wanted Jenny O'Neill gone

Former klansmen "nedkelly" has provided further insight into the operation of the group known as the KLAN which controls Carenne Special School in Bathurst. This time, nedkelly has spoken to Carenne Gate about how Lee Churches and Mary Housler wanted bus driver Jenny O'Neill dismissed from her job because she had made complaints about people.

Nedkelly claims that plans had been on foot to dismiss Mrs O'Neill as early as June 2009, but Ms Churches was concerned about how it would look with two bus drivers dismissed in the space of six months.

"Lee told me around June that she wanted Jenny gone because she was a snitch. She said that she had complained about the wrong people and we would have to come up with a plan to have her dismissed but it would need to be a long-term plan because two dismissals in a short period of time would be suspicious," said nedkelly.

She said at the end of 2009, Ms Churches began telling members of the KLAN to complain about Mrs O'Neill being on the blog. When this site was created in November 2009, Ms Churches printed fliers off using the school printer and gave them to Lucy Thornton to pass around to staff so they were aware of the new site.

"Lee printed off fliers using the school's printer and had them passed out by Lucy on the condition that when Lucy was caught out she would say Jenny told her about the new site, Lee said that this would end support for Jenny with Christine Porter who had been one of her supporters," said nedkelly.

Nedkelly says that when Carenne Support had a union representative turn up at a meeting with Mrs O'Neill they became cautious about sacking her. She said that Ms Churches would turn to hassling Jenny away from work.

According to nedkelly, earlier this year Ms Churches and Mary Housler became upset about complaints that Mrs O'Neill had made about Geoff Salmon and Ms Churches. "Lee then said we had to make sure that she went after that, she told us we got rid of two snitches we can get rid of her."

Mrs Housler had a disliking for Mrs O'Neill because she had refused to sign blank pay claims according to nedkelly. Mrs Housler was often heard by nedkelly in the officer rubbishing Mrs O'Neill to Simone Russell.

Nedkelly says a series of complaints were made about Mrs O'Neill but the board of Carenne Support were cautious of dismissing her. Nedkelly says that Christine Porter was asked to step down from her role as bus supervisor (which she took on as part of her role as CEO) so that Mrs Housler's friend Dave Graham could take the job.

"As always happens at Carenne, the job was already fixed up before the job was even advertised. Dave Graham was a friend of Housler's and the interview was just to look as though it was a genuine redundancy, it wasn't."

Nedkelly's tale shows that the KLAN who operate Carenne Special School will not tolerate anyone who dares to speak the truth about Carenne.

Inside the Klan: Nedkelly exposes Lee Churches' plan to ruin whistleblower

Carenne Special School whistleblower "nedkelly" has told Carenne Gate that Lee Churches told her of complaints made about her by dismissed whistleblower Brian Carter and masterminded the plot against him. She claimed it was just one of a series of dirty tricks pulled by the klan.

"nedkelly" claims that she was warned by Miss Churches that Mr Carter was blaming her for his dismissal due to complaints made about him by her.

Nedkelly told Carenne Gate -
"Before he was sacked, I was told to make complaints about Brian Carter by Lee and Michael, they wanted him gone because he knew about many of the scams and child abuse going on."

"The quickest way to discredit him was to have him sacked. Lee told me I would be one of the first to go down and I panicked."

Nedkelly says that when her and another Klansmen's complaints went nowhere they changed tact.

"By that stage Michael wanted Nathan Carter out of the way too. Nathan had reported him for something and Michael said he had to go. Anyway, the main target was Carter so we bribed Terry. We threatened for him to sack Carter or we would expose his wrongdoing. This was entirely Lee's idea."

It is claimed that outgoing principal took the bait and eventually sacked Mr Carter. When Mr Carter protested and said he knew of the group who underlaid his dismissal, Mr Mahony allegedly told assistant principal and fellow Carenne Support director Lee Churches who warned nedkelly and others about Mr Carter's complaint.

"Lee told us to have someone make mischief first day back so that Carter looked bad to the new principal. She knew he would be blamed."

Nedkelly then claims that her and a number of others approached Lyn Duncan at the insistence of Ms Churches claiming they were concerned about their jobs following Mr Carter's claim that they had caused his dismissal.

After this, Nedkelly claims to have written anonymous letters to the school and School Education Director Peter Harvey at the direction of Lee Churches.

"I would write these letters defaming myself and the rest of the klan because Lee said it would look like Carter was doing it, Lyn fell for it, " said nedkelly.

Carenne staff directed not to contribute to this blog

In a letter given to Carenne Special School staff last week, Bathurst's School Education Director, Peter Harvey directed that all DET staff are not to contribute to this blog or any form of electronic media.

The letter alleges that a large volume of material has been posted to this blog about individual staff, students and parents of Carenne School with some of it being distorted or misconceived. This would indicate that the department believes a lot of this blog's contents to be true.

In the letter, Mr Harvey addressed concerns staff have publicly aired about being left to fight for themselves by the department, claiming the meeting on the 19th of July where Patrick Quinn told Carenne staff that the leaks were coming from inside the school, despite protests from Margaret Rowe and claims by Janelle Kemp that parents were responsible for the leaks.

Mr Harvey told staff in his letter that this blog is not the appropriate venue to make complaints, despite claims by the Carenne Saviours that their complaints to the principal and even Mr Harvey himself had been largely ignored.

DET ignored its duty of care over allegations against Churches: SEA Snitch

SEA Snitch, a whistleblower in the department's district office in Bathurst, from where School Education Director Peter Harvey is based claims that the department deliberately neglected its duty of care surrounding allegations made against Lee Churches.

SEA Snitch claims that towards the middle of 2009 a letter was received by Peter Harvey with photographs of Drew Churches and another young male drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes at the Churches family home and engaging in high-risk activities such as showing off on an abandoned building in Bathurst. SEA Snitch claims these are similar to the ones leaked to Sydney Indymedia by a Carenne Special School staff member in October last year. SEA Snitch says that the photographs were date stamped 2008, at which time Drew would have been just 15.

SEA Snitch told Carenne Gate that the department had a duty to investigate Lee for child abuse and neglect even though the allegations involved her own son. He claims that Lynette Duncan was also aware of the allegations and deliberately hid them from the Employee Performance and Conduct division of the department.

SEA Snitch said:

"What should have happened is that Lee should have been stood down pending investigation, the investigation would have been swift given the photographic evidence and she should have then been sacked. It shows that there is a history of child neglect even with her own son and she is unfit to teach."

SEA Snitch alleges that Ms Churches has received special treatment from Peter Harvey and Carole McDiarmid who are protecting her. He also claims that both are aware that she is "carennetruth" and a plethora of other aliases on this blog.

Michael Auld wasting school resources: nedkelly

With Neil Moon telling his staff to reduce their use of the school's colour photocopier due to high costs, former klansmen turned whistleblower nedkelly claims that this misuse can be put down to a minority of staff not the majority.

Nedkelly told Carenne Gate that she is "fed up" with being leered at by school administrator Helen Windsor and questioned when she uses the colour copier/printer to make resources for her class. Nedkelly said she probably makes no more than 20 colour prints per week but she is made to feel bad for doing so, despite the resources needing to be in colour.

Nedkelly said -

"It really pisses me off being treated like some sort of criminal because I use the colour copier on occasion, a little misuse comes during school hours but most of it is after hours, this abuse is costing the school money which impacts on the school's programs."

Nedkelly went on to lay the blame with a number of Carenne staff. She claimed that she had often seen Michael Auld printing colour materials for the Riding for the Disabled Association and St Vincent de Paul using the colour copier. She also claimed that Auld asked for the security system to be modified so staff could enter the photocopying room after hours and over school holidays, something verified in part by meeting minutes obtained by Carenne Gate in Term 2.

"I have seen Auld print hundreds of pages at a time, all related to RDA. When I complained to Neil about it, I was told to mind my own business," said nedkelly.

nedkelly also says that the setup of some computers is to blame. She said that some of the new computers received by the school and set up by Michael Auld had the colour printer set as default. She claimed that most staff are so technically illiterate that they are unable to change the printer when printing and most students would make the same mistake when printing. Nedkelly told us -
"It shows the complete incompetence of Michael Auld, he has no idea what he is doing, he is a complete f--- up."

nedkelly went on to allege that Melinda Gavin, Janelle Kemp, Paula Hundy and Angela Cranston all used the colour printer to print personal colour photographs.

Parent speaks out about treatment of her ADHD suffering son at another Bathurst School

In circumstances sounding similar to the debacle at Carenne Special School, a parent of a student at Bathurst West Public School has contacted Carenne Gate to complain about the treatment of her ADHD suffering son by the school's staff and principal Toni MacDonald.

The parent claims that she was told sometime ago that her son would have to be medicated as the school did not have the resources to deal with them in an effective manner by teacher Debbie Barratt. The mother said that she then spoke to her child's pediatrician who told her that her son could be put on the drug Ritalin but advised against it as his ADHD was mild.

When the parent told Mrs Barratt this, she said that unless he was medicated he wouldn't be allowed to come to school. The mother, concerned about her son then asked the doctor to provide her with the medication.

After seeing a deterioration in her son's condition, the mother then went back to the pediatrician who suggested that the student be taken off the medication. The parent told Mrs Barratt the plan and she said she wasn't comfortable with it but would comply with the request.

"Even though she said she agreed, Mrs Barratt and Mrs MacDonald kept giving him the medication, I don't know where they got it from because I wasn't sending any with my son. They must have taken it from another student and given it to my son," the upset mother told Carenne Gate.

The mother then spoke to Mrs Barratt and told her that she had found out they were still giving her son Ritalin, even though they were told he was being taken off it. The student's mother was told that principal Toni MacDonald had to approve for the student to be taken off the medication. When the parent spoke to Mrs MacDonald she was told that if her son was taken off Ritalin that he would not be able to attend the school for two weeks and if he turned up, she would send him home.

"How can these people tell me what to do with my child? How can they tell me that he has to be on medication when his doctor doesn't agree? When did they go to medical school?" the mother asked.

It would appear that staff in the Western Region of DET believe they know better than doctors and parents and will continue to threaten parents to force them to do what they want.

Carenne principal not properly trained

The Carenne Saviours have expressed concern at Neil Moon not being trained in crisis intervention techniques, for which he is going to Sydney for next week. The Saviours claim that it is completely unacceptable that a principal of a special school not be trained properly, particularly when Mr Moon was the principal of Holman Place School in Cowra before arriving at Carenne.

One saviour told Carenne Gate -

"It's not like Lynn Duncan who didn't come from a position at another special school, you could understand it, this man was the principal of another special school and isn't properly trained."

"No wonder this guy thinks it's OK to sit on students, something Terry Neal started last year, he isn't even trained!" said another.

When the principal of a school isn't appropriately trained and is only sent for training in July of the year that he started it shows there are serious problems with the special education system, particularly when he was the principal of another special school for years beforehand. It shows the continuing incompetence of Carole McDiarmid and her Western NSW staff.

RDA Program suspended, Auld and Gavin failed to have proper insurance

The maligned Riding for the Disabled Association of Bathurst, which has Michael Auld and Melinda Gavin sitting on the management committee of once again been suspended, this time due to the incompetence of the committee.

In June, Carenne Gate reported that the RDA program had been suspended due to Melinda Gavin taking a holiday, causing students to miss out. At that time, a number of people commented that the association was overly reliant on Mrs Gavin and that Mrs Gavin and Mr Auld were afraid of other people coming in and discovering the maladministration and corruption going on at RDA.

RDA has had to close its doors after it was realised that the management committee had not obtained proper public liability insurance. According to an RDA whistleblower, the organisation had not had proper insurance since it moved from its old site to the new site behind Carenne.
"Michael Auld told us that because the land was government land but given to us we didn't need public liability insurance and that the school's insurance would cover us," said the whistleblower.

"The first we knew it was wrong was just this week when we got told we had to suspend the program because there was no public liability insurance."

Only last month, we heard how RDA is paid $80 per student who attends and how they wanted to charge parents for their students to access the therapy farm which had been corruptly receiving funding from the school itself.

More evidence that Lee and Drew Churches post on this blog

It has been known for months that Lee Churches is a number of different users on this blog who bully, harass and threaten parents and staff who raise concerns about Carenne Special School. The Carenne assistant principal has also leaked information she illegally obtained from the police to try and discredit those who speak out about Carenne.

Last night, a user claiming to be Drew Churches posted defending his mother claiming that neither of them had posted comments on this blog. Unfortunately for Drew, the logs show otherwise. Logs show that Drew or Lee had been posting well before his rant.

In the past we have records of a computer running Windows XP used by Lee but last night, postings were made from an Apple.

It provides those investigating the people behind the posts on this blog with further evidence that the bully is in fact Lee Churches.

Police claim they are being fed with false information

According to a whistleblower from the police force who must remain anonymous due to the possibility of harassment from others has said that police are being misled by Carenne staff following the admission by senior departmental staff on Monday that most of the information on this blog was being supplied by staff of the school.

The officer said that Neil Moon, Simone Russell, Lee Churches, Peter Richards, Kelly Thompson and Michael Auld have made complaints to Police and said that they claimed that the blog is full of lies and is being fed by people outside of the school. The officer claims that they were told by several Carenne staff that the department has conducted an investigation and found that nobody at Carenne was supplying information or posting on this blog. The officer said that Simone and Scott Russell had made claims to police that they hired a private investigator who had traced everything to Brian Carter. The officer told Carenne Gate -

"It's pretty bad when you have a senior police officer making allegations he knows are false to try and set up someone they don't like."

The officer told Carenne Gate he was concerned about the detectives who were investigating this blog -

"One is a friend of the Russell family who helped Scott get his promotion, another is a close friend of Mark Smith's and the third has a grudge against certain people involved in this mess,"

"The police investigation will get nowhere because it is engineered to protected certain people and nothing else."